Americans are spending less and less on their wardrobes and more on gussying up their homes and on entertainment, a review of government data by The Post reveals.

Families are also forking over more and more cash in recent years on eating out, travel and going to sports games, the numbers show.

The shifting of household dollars away from clothes over the past six years specifically — continuing a pattern that has its roots in the 1960s — could explain, in part, the hard times being experienced by apparel chains.

Overexpansion by these clothing retailers into the teeth of this generational shift — not to mention the growth of online retailers — has resulted in scores of retail bankruptcies and the closing of thousands of stores.

At the same time, chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s continue to grow and grab more and more discretionary dollars from US households.

At Home Depot, same- store sales in each of the last three years gained more than 5 percent — fueled in no small part by the sale of home appliances, which have grown to represent 7.8 percent of total revenue, up from 6.9 percent just two years ago.

Since 1959, spending on apparel and footwear has declined from 26 percent of discretionary spending to 11 percent, an analysis of the data by Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow shows.

The analyst, in a report, said Americans are now spending 65 percent of their discretionary dollars on “experiences” — like vacations and sporting events — compared with spending in the low-40-percent range 60 years ago.

“Consumer spending is not changing,” Boruchow said, “but what we are spending money on is changing.”

“People in general are focused more on their homes as an investment as well as for enjoyment,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners. “When times have been tight economically, people cocoon.”

The increase in home-related spending picked up speed in 2013, rising 2.4 percent, to 18.1 percent, of consumers’ wallets through 2017. Over that same period, there was a 6 percent decline in apparel and shoe spending, according to Wells Fargo.

The segment has underperformed the S&P by 20 percent since December alone.

“We had a really bad holiday on top of a bad holiday in 2015,” said Boruchow. “It’s all led to investors asking the question that if people are not spending on clothing and shoes, what are they spending money on?”

To be sure, outlays for health care have increased dramatically over the decades, to 21 percent of consumers’ annual spending today, up from 5 percent in 1960 — and technology devices were barely a blip back then — Boruchow said.

But the long-term trend has been away from apparel.

“Apparel thought it competed with apparel,” said Richard Kestenbaum, partner in Triangle Capital. “But now it turns out that apparel competes with great restaurants and weekends away” — and a new barbecue pit.